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Are Car Dealers Next To Be Disrupted by Amazon? - Frank Reactions - Customer Experience & Customer Service in the Digital Era

7 days ago
·
23 minutes

The last time I bought a car we had a very specific requirement. The vehicle had to be big enough that we could fit two bicycles inside.
We’d destroyed too many bikes by forgetting they were on the rooftop carrier, and my husband’s bike was too expensive to leave out for thieves overnight.
We started at the Toyota dealership because we’d been happy with our Camry.
First, it took a lot of effort to get a sales rep’s attention. They were too busy chatting with each other.
We had one of the bikes with us, and explained that we had to be able to fit two into the back. He started showing us cars with seats that didn’t even fold down!
I had to be the one to tell him that from looking around the lot I thought a Rav4 might work (but it would be close).
“Maybe,” he replied.
“Can we try it?” I asked.
“Oh.” He sighed. “I’ll have to go back in and find the key.”
Twenty minutes later he finally came back. The bike was a bit too long. He offered no suggestions for alternative cars that might work.
Needless to say, we did not by a car from that dealership (and I presume he’s no longer employed there, but that dealership has lost our business forever).
Car Dealers: Give Me A Reason to Come to You!
Today is Part 2 of my conversation with Bruce Kirkland, Dealer Principal of Lexus of Edmonton West. If you missed Part 1, you’ll find it at http://frankreactions.com/109. In that one we discussed:
* How starting a dealership when he had zero experience in that industry proved to be a real benefit (though it was tough at the beginning).
* The huge importance of culture training, and his 3 Pillars of success.
* How they’ve survived – even thrived – in a recession.
* And unique things his dealership does to keep customers incredibly loyal.
In today’s interview, we discuss:
The risk of disruption of car dealers by Amazon
Hop on over to Amazon Vehicles and you’ll see that they are ready to take on the car dealers.
For now they’re still lobbying for rules to be changed to let Amazon sell cars in North America, but, as we’ve seen from Uber, when an in